‘I expect you to prove that he did,’ she says, inching further across and blocking the path to Nathan. ‘And before that, I think we should be trying to find his brother, Christian, to determine if he really is the man behind all this.’
There’s no laugh this time. ‘We? Why the hell would I keep you on this case? I would have retired you a long time ago if it hadn’t been for your father.’ For the first time Superintendent Taylor stumbles over his words, readjusting his hat under his arm and noisily clearing his throat before continuing. ‘And then there was the whole fuck-up with Mark Brooks and you rolling around on the floor where his wife had been murdered.’ He squeezes his eyes shut and shakes off a grimace. ‘I had to phone him personally to ask forgiveness for the unforgiveable.’ He looks up at the house, drawing in a deep breath. ‘Finally, there’s this. Evidence, as if any were needed, that you’re far too trusting. No, DI Rhodes, you’re the last person in the world I want working on this.’
‘Want has got nothing to do with it,’ says Katie. She’d been losing energy – thinking through the possible reasons for yet another deception from Nathan, wondering what happened to a poor homeless man twenty years ago, doubting her own assessment of more recent events – but the mention of her dad has given her impetus, and the burning desire to see this through to the end, no matter the cost.
‘You know full well that you need me and Nathan, otherwise you are going to be paying your respects to many more families and looking even more incompetent to the press.’ She slows to wave a finger at his full dress uniform, guessing where he’s just been. ‘And summoned many more times to explain your failures to your superiors.’
The vein is throbbing on his temple now, more fiercely than she’s ever seen it before, but in his eyes she can see an equally fierce intelligence weighing up the truth in what she’s just said.
‘But his own brother—’
‘Is a wanted man,’ she cuts him off. ‘And who better to find him?’
‘Which is why we need to take Nathan in for questioning again. I’ve half a mind to—’
‘Arrest him, and I walk away,’ she says. ‘From this. From everything.’
‘Were you not listening just a minute ago? You’re hardly irreplaceable now.’
‘Together,’ she says, taking a step towards Nathan, who remains seated behind her, not joining in the conversation but clearly listening. ‘Together: that’s exactly what we are. And I’ll make you a promise. If we don’t get you a result in…’ She looks up at the sky as if searching for a figure, but she already has one in mind. ‘Two days. If we don’t have a killer behind bars in two days, then you can take me off the case. In fact, you can have the very thing you’ve been craving these last six months – you can have my resignation.’
He stands motionless, weighing up the offer, no doubt remembering all the times this past year that he’s called her into his office and told her to shut the door. But he’ll also be remembering the years before, when she and Nathan had delivered, time and again. She knows how badly he’s wanted that back, almost as badly as she has herself, and although it’s far too late for Nathan, he might just take the risk for her.
Through gritted teeth he eventually speaks. ‘DS Peters takes the lead, you advise and that’s all, and you keep him,’ he jabs a finger over her shoulder, ‘by your side at all times. One step out of line and he’s behind bars. If I find out he knew what his brother was doing, if I find he was involved in any way, if I find you had the slightest inkling…’ A flash of doubt crosses the superintendent’s face, and Katie fears she’s about to have the offer withdrawn, so she shoots a quick look down to the end of the street where the press is gathering behind a line of officers. Following her gaze, the Super suddenly rises and the doubt is replaced by an expression of calm, even if the words that accompany his departure are anything but. ‘You find your fucking brother, Nathan Radley!’
Katie stands and watches him go, her lips shaping a new surname for a man she had thought she knew. Although now that she’s heard the surname, she realises she’s seen it before, just a few minutes earlier, on the acceptance letter to RADA hanging high on the wall in his bedroom. Somehow she’d managed to shut out that fact, to be blind to its significance, just as she’s been blind to so many things about this man. She wants to spin round and confront Nathan Radley, but she’s certain she’ll only be wasting her time. Which is why she’s so surprised when she hears him speak: a single word delivered with feeling.
‘Thanks.’
She can’t decide what to say in response. She wants to ask him the extent of his lie and demand that he tell her everything. She wants to take him by the throat and squeeze the information out of him, to hear all the apologies she believes she deserves. But she doesn’t speak, and she doesn’t move; she stares at the man she had, up until a year ago, trusted more than any other.
‘Just this case,’ he says, eyes wide and unblinking. ‘That’s all that matters.’
She continues to look at him and she knows that he’s right. She holds out a hand, waiting till his skinny fingers grip hers and she can drag him to his feet.
‘You give me everything you’ve got,’ she says, no question, no doubt. ‘For the next day and a half.’
‘I promise.’
‘Do you have any idea where Christian might be now?’
He shakes his head as DS Peters appears behind her, looking nervous at interrupting, while slipping his mobile into his pocket.
‘Sorry,’ he says. ‘But I thought you ought to know.’ The tone is a familiar one; it’s the way he’d spoken to her on the phone back at the very beginning when he’d been scared to share the news of another murder. And she’s certain that’s what he’s come to share now.
‘Another mother?’ she asks, picturing the photos and Tate’s little shoes.
‘No,’ says DS Peters. He glances over at Nathan and, lightly taking Katie’s arm, tries to pull her away.
‘He’s with me,’ she says, resisting. ‘You can tell us, whatever it is.’
‘Is he dead?’ says Nathan, before shaking his head, dismissing the possibility.
‘It’s the doll,’ says DS Peters. ‘The headless one from the Brooks’ house you asked me to have checked.’
‘Go on.’
He breathes out slowly, glancing over at the press in the distance as if they might be able to hear. ‘We have photos,’ he says. ‘We have proof that it wasn’t there on the day of the murder. Nor was it there when the team went back yesterday morning. Which means—’
‘The killer has been back,’ says Katie, turning quickly to Nathan, reminding herself with a brief but powerful sense of relief that he was with her for the whole of the day.
‘Yes,’ says DS Peters. ‘But there’s more. Something forensics discovered stuffed inside the doll that…’ He opens his mouth then closes it again. He still has his hand on her arm and she’s still resisting, but now she places her hand on top of his, trying to calm him, fearing that the old detective is looking faint.
‘Blood?’ she asks.
‘A piece of skin.’
‘Whose?’ she asks, trying to piece things together. ‘The victim in there?’ She gestures towards the house. To her right, she’s aware of Nathan rising from the steps. Then her eyes move to his hands, where one hand is pulling against the other, dragging the ring finger back.
‘No!’ she says, turning back to DS Peters. But she can see from the twist of his face that it’s true.
Twenty-One
Katie parks the car around the corner as arranged and waits for the PC to appear. Further up the road she can see a car she suspects belongs to a journalist and, as she pops open the door and climbs out, she thinks she can make out the flash of sunlight reflecting on a lens. She closes the door behind her and nods as the PC approaches. She only vaguely recognises him, but he clearly knows her.